


Resurfaced Relic

by KaiKayKoa



Category: Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Video Game)
Genre: Other, will be updated - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-03-29 13:45:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19021162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaiKayKoa/pseuds/KaiKayKoa
Summary: You know, like, they enter a cave, someone gets dragged in, *shenanigans.*I don’t know anymore man, this just exists for my own obscure reasons hkdhsjdsk.





	1. Part 1

The group decided to go around the Hydropelago, in a chance to explore their shared territory and ways to protect it. They were on the ship until it docked on land. They all walked out, touching the sand. Batu needed a bit more assistance before they could explore fully, but matters were resolved. 

“Let’s look around in pairs,” Roland suggested.

Leander pondered at the scenery and snapped back in reality as he heard Roland. “I would rather examine alone, if possible.”

Tani crossed her arms and huffed, “Oh, not this time, Mister Junior Counsul. I’m coming with.” She looked ahead and started to walk in that direction as higgledies ruffled and popped out of her cape. Leander chilled and frantically followed.

“Wait, not there!” he blurted.

Bracken shrugged and looked back the group. “Looks like I’m with you, big guy,” she said as she looked at Batu.

Evan, Roland and Lofty headed west as Bracken and Batu went east. Tani trotted away with a few higgledy friends after Leander stated how he wanted to be alone.

The man caught up to her as he frantically twisted his head, looking all around him. Tani was happily humming a tune as the higgldies marched with her. It would just be like patrolling the canyons, but with a cool, sea breeze. As she marched her way, she was tugged by the fur on her boots. She looked down to see a higgledy point to a mound in the distance.

Her eyes lit as she immediately ran for it. Leander tried to catch her by her cape, but the little pirate had flawlessly dodged as she slid through the sand. He thought about hitting her with a bolt, but that was impulsivity. In silent panic, he continued to run after the swift, sly girl.

As Tani came closer to the mound, it came to a cave. It was covered in moss and kelp,  as if it emerged out of the water. The opening was covered by dangling greens. The girl instinctively tried to look inside, until she was finally caught by the shoulder.

“You are not going in there,” Leander demanded as he glared at the girl.

Tani looked back and smacked a hand against her other palm and said, “That's right. We should enter with the others!” She managed to get away from Leander's grasp and yelled, “Hey, me and Leander found a cool cave!”

The island they docked was smaller than Aranella Square, so hearing her pirate alerting yell was easy enough.

Bracken came in running with Batu as Evan, Roland and Lofty followed. 

“What is it? A cave, right?” Bracken asked while she tapped on her leafbook.

“Yeah, and look! There's moss and plants all around it.”

“Like it came from underwater,” Evan added.

“We should go in and check it out.”

Leander shuddered subtly and protested, “Your Majesty, I advise that we do not enter.”

Evan looked at him with his moving around. “Is there a problem, Leander?”

“...Nothing significant, but I do highly feel that we should not go in.”

“Then if it's just instinct, we aren't really sure there is something dangerous inside,” Roland cut back. 

Lofty waved an arm. “Sometimes instinct is a good thing, sometimes bad. And if there's something nasty in there, we can knock it out just like all the others!”

Evan smiled at Lofty then turned back to Leander. “He's right. It wouldn't hurt so much with a little peek,” he said.

Leander paused for a while to regain his composure. He then fixed his glasses and said sternly, “Then, I agree. But I must be first in line.”

Evan nodded as they all headed for the opening. Leander gently brushed away the kelp and let go as the plants surprisingly held in place. He walked in very carefully, like tiptoeing. As he walked further in, he turned his head and put a finger to his mouth, asking that they would all keep quiet. 

It was incredibly dark halfway through, and Leander took out a wand and flicked it against the air. A light emerged at the tip of it as a soft glow until he pointed in front of him as it turned into a ray of light. He moved it left and right to reveal that there is only an isle of land and there was water surrounding them.

He looked back again to see that more people began walking in. Bracken gave him a looked and murmured, “We'll go through all of this together, come on!” Leander made a silent pout before he turned his head and continued walking.

The isle was wide enough to fit two people walking on it. Leander was walking until he stepped into a puddle. Abnormally large droplets of water splashed onto his shoes and socks. He quietly yelped as he retreated his foot, feeling a slight sensation in his leg.

He mused, ‘Have I become that sensitive?’

“Is something wrong?” Evan asked concerningly.

“Nothing, Your Majesty,” he replied as he brushed off the feeling. 

Leander's eyes darted into both sides of the water, hoping nothing would go wrong. He heard quiet whispers and gasps until he reached the mossy wall.

“This is all. Let's all hurry and get out,” Leander whispered to the group. He waved his hand at Bracken, who was at the end of the line.

She scoffed as she reluctantly turned away, “Calm down, there's no need to rush.”

“Why is the water so dark?” Tani asked.

“So that something could--” Leander spoke before something tugged him by the leg. He dropped his wand with the light still on as everyone looked back. He disappeared into the pitch black water, his wand at the edge of the little isle of land.

Evan hurried to get the wand and crouched to look at the water. Tani and Lofty skidded to his side while the others kept a stance and looked around.

Evan felt his hair stand on its ends. “Leander!” he yelled at the water as he shone a light at it. It was no use, it was still impenetrable by the light. They heard a voice call them as Evan pointed the light to wherever it was coming from.

“Your Majesty, it's me, Leander. I… I'm fine, I assure you,” Leander panted from behind a rock.

“Alright! We'll get you as soon as possible. Please don't drown!”

They started to think until they heard water swish followed by a giggle. The sounds became louder as if something was swimming towards them. Evan jumped back as he summoned a sword on his other hand. The water stopped and rippled before Evan. A pink figure began to emerge from the water.

The boy continued to point a light at it as everyone watched. A mound of pink hair appeared from the water as a blue, scaly arm appeared to brush some away to reveal a part of its face. It was also blue but it's eyes were red along with the headdress it wore.

“Oh, oh! Please, no weapons, we mean no harm,” the figure said in a gentle voice.

Evan dematerialized his sword as he heard Tani do the same. He regained his composure and started to apologize, “Gosh, we're sorry! We thought you might have been a monster.”

The figure chuckled, “Huhu, we're not monsters, and we wouldn't even hurt anyone who walks in unknowingly!” It brushed its hair away from its whole face to reveal its scaly completion along with marks on its cheek and the pair of fins on its face. “Call me Kassandra, a lady, I am. Merfolk, rather.” 

They gasped at such a sight. “Merfolk?”

“Yes, but a special one, compared to the ones you have met.” Kassandra tumbled in the water to reveal a long, elegant tail. Two pairs of fins were attached to its sides as the light reflected a cool, desaturated color magenta. Her head appeared again and snickered.

“You're those kind of merfolk!” Evan yelped excitedly. “I've only heard of your kind in stories.”

“That is true, downtrifling, really. But at least our cousins at present can explore the great vast lands on foot, compared to us.” She twirled her hair as she looked at the group of other humans. She turned back to Evan and spoke, “It looks like you have a problem. What is it, dear?”

“Yeah, did you drag our friend into the water, or what?” Tani growled as she stepped in form of her. 

“There's no need to mean! We just need your help to get our friend to shore.” Evan cried.

Kassandra tilted her head. “Oh it's all fine, but I'm afraid I don't see anyone else in the water that needs to be brought ashore.”

“But he fell in here and he's all the way over there, on that rock. Isn't the water too dark to see?”

“Ohohoho, no it's not a problem for us merfolk to see, but I haven't seen anything swim to that rock.”

“But could you please check? We're worried.”

She sighed as her fins twitched. “I can't say ‘no’ to a child like you.” She dived back into the water as the group waited. 

“Are you sure you don't have an inflatable dinghy with you?” Roland asked Bracken.

“Nah, left it at the ship. It doesn't look like he's drowned yet, so I'll say it's fine.”

It's been minutes since Kassandra agreed to check on their friend. Evan gripped the wand tightly as he shone it against the rock while everyone else tried to comfort him and themselves. Another giggle came from behind them as Roland turned back.

He said softly, “That doesn't sound like Kassandra.”

It wasn't. A vague silhouette emerged far back into the other side of the chamber. It was similar to Kassandra, though. It had the fins emerging from its face, but it didn't have a wavy mound of hair around it. It had two pigtails, drooping down low while it's headdress shone from the light. It giggled again as it dove back into the water.

It swam closer to the isle of land and popped its head out from the water. Roland stepped back in surprise as the others came closer with caution.

“Hello!” it said cheerily. It grinned to show its pearly looking teeth. “I'm Aya! And we're playing a game.” Aya brought out what looked like a wand. It was a simple, old wand with an irregular shaped gem at the tip. She shook it gently as blast of light came from it. Everyone else shielded their eyes until it calmed down into a gentle glow.

“Sorry, but you all might be in the way. We don't want to hurt you, really!” Aya assured the surprised group of humans in front of her. She started to hold the glowing wand above her head and yelled, “Catch!” 

It spiraled into the air in an arch as everyone's eyes followed it. Before it splashed into the other side of water, a hand came to grab it. Scaly blue, it was.

“I'm sorry, you all, for not telling you this,” Kassandra apologized as she emerged from the water. “As long you stay out of the way, things wouldn't get too complicated.”

“Oi! What about what we asked for?” Lofty protested as he flailed his arms.

“Your friend? Ah. I'm afraid they refused my help and hid on the other side of the rock,” she said before breaking into another chuckle. She then threw the old wand into the air and dived into the water. She came flying upwards and smacked the wand with a flip.

Batu pushed Tani out of the way of the rocketed stick and huffed.

Kassandra gave an embarrassed look the moment she popped her head out of the water again and did a bow as an apology. 

Aya, on the other side of the chamber, shot out of the water the same way as Kassandra did and caught the wand midair. She splashed into the water while giggling.

“Evan!” a voice cried.

The boy turned again and pointed his wand at the same rock Leander held on to. “Leander? Are you okay?”

“The wand, I'll need it.”

“But why?” He twitched his ears while asking.

“I rather that questions won't be asked now. But please, help me get that old wand.”

Evan, still confused to his friend's motive, agreed. He looked back at the group and all nodded in agreement.

Kassandra gave a concerned look. “You wouldn't really take it from us, would you, Evan? Was it?”

“Golly, of course we won't take it! But I'm guessing you won't give to us that easily…”

“Ohohoho!” Aya laughed from the other side. “We won't give it to you, but you can use it if you can take it from us! And the only way--” she started as she felt the water move from behind her, “--is to catch it!” She flung the wand into the air and quickly swam away, snickering from whatever was behind her. 

“Evan, lad. Ya hear that? There's no holdin' back now,” Batu grinned at the boy.

“We should at least make sure no one gets hurt!” Evan sputtered.

Tani chuckled. “Sorry, Evan. The boss just likes a challenge like this-- and the word ‘take’.”

The wand was surprisingly still in the air. Bracken got tired of looking up and took a gun from her arms band and pointed it at the glowing stick. Before she could fire, though, the wand came back into motion and continued its arch. In landed flawlessly into Kassandra's hand.

The merfolk wagged the wand in front of her as a tease. A presence appeared behind her as she went “ah.” She threw the wand like a dart and disappeared into the water, swimming away from what she felt behind her.

Tani came to catch the speeding wand when she felt it flying past her. She laughed in triumph until she felt it slip out of her grasp and continued to fly away. “Grrr..!” she grumbled in annoyance and immense confusion.

Then came a montage of a flying wand and giggling merpeople. Once, it flew like a throwing star and trimmed some part of Roland's mullet. Another, when it when looked like it would come straight crashing down into the isle of land, until it abruptly darted halfway into the water. Third, it skidded against the water while the others hoped it would stop once it reached land until it just continued to skid even when reaching the coarse, dry ground. Then, it bounced on land like a toy ball then sink into the water. 

Kassandra and Aya would always giggle before throwing the wand into the air. Roland noticed how they would yelp with a sense of panic before actually lodging the old stick up high. He became curious and turned back to the rock where Leander would have been staying.

“Leander, are you there?” he asked, ignoring the flying wand going back and forth around him. His words echoed through the laughing and yelling inside the small, once-hidden cave. He continued to stare and ask for a response until he heard something power up; a gun, or someone's annoyance.

He turned back to see Bracken pointing at Aya with a disgruntled look. 

“This is getting annoying, but I swear this won't hurt anyone!” she yelled, pulling the trigger on her gun. 

Aya was busy swimming and laughing away until she felt the blast. She froze. Now, her body was covered and encased in a thin layer of frost and ice. Her grin was plastered onto her still body while the wand was above her head. 

Roland turned to Bracken, “Are you sure that doesn't hurt?”

“Yeah. Spent time tweaking this baby to a ‘just freeze’ option a while back,” she replied, impressed with herself as she spun her gun around her finger. 

Tani came closer to the now statuette and tried to figure out how to get the wand. Kassandra was pondering on the other side of the cave with a little smile. 

“Oh my…” she whispered to herself before disappearing back into the water. 

Tani crouched down and summoned a spear. She pointed the hilt at merfolk and reached out. But before she could even touch the wand, a different arm came to carefully take it out of Aya's grasp instead, and hid back into the water. 

Everyone stared in shock. An arm came and took the wand with ease; something that could possibly help their friend in some sort of way.

Bracken blurted bluntly, “What was that.” 

They came closer together to possibly discuss until another blast of light shone from the entrance. Everyone held an arm against their faces until the light died down. The entrance had no-one in front of it and Aya vanished from where she was.

The group was getting even more confused by the second.

Evan quickly shook it off and looked around. “Leander! Are you still there? The wand it's-- gone.”

Nothing replied.

“He wouldn't respond to me either, but do you think he escaped?” Roland queried.

“It looks like those two girlies vanished into thin air, too! Or thin water,” Lofty spoke.

The whole cave was nothing but silence again. Evan felt uncomfortable and scratched the back of his ear.

“Let's… leave, for a while. We could find something else to help Leander,” he mewled worriedly as he brought a hand to his chest.

They all nodded at each other and began to walk out of the cave one by one. Evan looked back another time and mused about the unnatural atmosphere it had, compared to before they stepped foot inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> excuse everyone acting ooc I have rewatched the series only after I’ve written part 2   
> hH I rewrote this March I’m just tired right now Enjoy, maybe


	2. Part 2

They all turned for the opening as Tani darted out first. She slid through the sand and cried with her arms out wide, “Oh Leand—  **AH** ” She jumped back in shock as she saw Leander in front of her, alive, well and soaking wet. He was in the middle of squeezing out the water from his cravat. His coat was busy drying on a giant coral as he placed his cravat on it. 

“Hello, Evan,” he greeted the shocked boy.

“Leander, you’re okay!” Evan stepped forward until he started to feel a bit skeptical. “Uhm, how did you escape? One of the merfolk said you refused her help and hid from her.”

“Ah, about that. I was shocked to see such a person greet me, so in instinct, I refused her assistance. While she was distracted, I managed to float and swim in the water, even at how incredibly dark it is.”

“So what about the wand? You asked us to get it,” Roland asked.

“Did I? I’m afraid I asked for nothing. I escaped the moment there was a blast of the light.”

They all stood, confused about their side of their stories. Evan’s ears twitched. “So, could there have been a voice mimicking yours and called us to get the wand?”

“It could be.”

Tani tapped her foot while her hands were at her waist. “While you’re all being skeptical, I’ll just go back inside to ask Kassandra and Aya myself about what they know.”

“That seems like a good idea. They do seem nice and Aya should know a thing or two.”

Leander was busy cleaning his glasses and froze in a stance.

Bracken gave him a look and snickered. “Look, if you’re scared, you can stay out here and wait for your clothes to dry while you’re at it.”

The others nodded at each other as they all walked back inside the cave. Evan’s ears perked as he ran back to Leander. 

“Oh, you should have this back.” The boy passed the wand to him. He gave a smile as turned back to enter the cave with the others.

 

Leander merely took a deep breath as they all disappeared back into the dark.

  
  


Before a step was heard, they heard a child cry. Roland flinched and squinted in the dark to see. He held an arm out before Evan, or anyone could turn on a light. “Shush,” he went as they tiptoed closer.

A child’s cries echoed in the small chamber as they faintly saw the figures of the same merfolk they have seen and a smaller looking one who was crying. Kassandra and Aya tried to comfort the smaller merfolk in a sisterly manner.

“Oh Lillie, there’s no need to cry,” Kassandra murmured.

“Yeah, Lii! He’ll be here again! It shouldn’t be too long!” Aya chimed.

It took a while for a response as they all waited quietly through the sobbing sounds until the little merfolk, called Lillie, came through saying through her tears, “But… it's still not fair! You… you played with him  _ and _ his friends while I was asleep… You meanies didn't even try to wake me up…!”

“But you know what would happen if we woke you up like that…”

“I know! But he only comes a few decades! What happens if I miss him?”

“You won’t miss him, you never even did! You even sleep within those few decades of waiting. We talked about this before, remember?”

The petite girl began to calm down, still sniffing, but she managed to stop crying. Evan started to walk some more. He felt a puddle under his shoe and quietly yelped as he retreated his foot. All three merfolk turned to look while Lillie swam behind her sisters.

“Who are they…?” Lillie asked in a small voice.

Kassandra’s eyes looked into Evan’s and she spoke, “Your Majesty? Why have you returned?”

“‘Your Majesty’? But why is Auntie Nerry so much smaller now?”

Aya gently put a hand on her lips as she gestured to her little sister, “Lii, now is not the time to ask questions. That’s not Auntie Nerry and this is serious talk for your big sisters.”

Lillie ducked down in agreement as Evan started to speak, “We heard a child crying. We were only concerned.”

“Well, before we talk, we should make this place a bit more welcoming.” She snapped her fingers as Aya clapped her hands. The place lit up from the crystals above them, illuminating a bright light. The water slowly began to become a bit more transparent. It still looked eerie as they could see the bottomless pit the little cave had. Lillie continued to hide behind her sisters as the water became clearer.

“Well, you don’t have to be concerned. You heard nothing,” Kassandra assured them.

The two continued to talk as Lillie crept quietly through the waters and began to watch the conversation from underwater. Her scales, along with her hair, started to change in color and made it as if she was invisible in the water. The waves did not move, surprisingly, as she spectated underneath with a warped vision due to water refraction. She heard the muffled voices and watched as things and people began to walk inside. Lofty waddled in as Roland followed. The others stood by the opening because of how the small space could not accommodate them all. She saw the man towering above her as her eyes lit and widened at the sight of it. 

Aya quickly turned back to be in shock to not see her little sister. Lillie’s hands twitched along with her fins as she jumped excitedly high out of the water yelling, “Mister Tides!”

Water sprinkled on Roland's face as he saw the little merfolk in the air with a big grin that quickly twisted into a gaping mouth as she opened her eyes. Lillie dived back into the water, not making a sound or much of a splash. 

They all gasped at the third merfolk. “Another one?” Tani cried.

“Oh… Please don’t yell!” 

“The echoes of other sounds scare her!”

Evan crouched and asked, “Who was that?” 

“That… was our little sister,” Kassandra said softly.

“Yeah! Kassandra, me, Lillie, she’s the youngest.”

“I see. Why did she jump out of the water?”

“Well, she mistook your friend for a different friend. She gets really excited when she sees him, so she jumps out of the water every time.”

“That’s too bad,” he hummed. He put a hand to his chin and started ask a few questions, “Why is she so afraid? I guru wouldn't mind me asking, of course.”

“She’s been alone with us for who knows how long. She hasn't been able to go outside since it’s always dangerous to even try.”

“She hasn’t met any new friends because of that, and she’s still quite young.”

“That’s… sad,” he grieved. “Is there anyone else here?”

“No, it’s always just been the three of us in his cave for the past years.”

He pondered a while before his ears perked. “Can I be friends with her?”

Kassandra’s droopy eyes widened in joy. “That would be great! You’re so nice and she could meet someone her age,” she chimed.

“Alright.” Evan looked behind the two and waved, “Hello, Lillie! You can call me Evan! Can we be friends?”

The two merfolk whispered to their sister who swam underneath them, “C'mon, Lii. You can hear that he's really nice! You can make a friend, and we'll keep you safe when anything happens.”

A bit of swishing and blorps were heard before the two girls moved out of the way. Evan didn't seem to see the water moving, but he saw Lillie swimming closer. She slowly peeped her nose and eyes out of the water before finally getting her whole head out of the water.

“Hello there!” Evan crouched and said to the little merfolk now in front of him. Kassandra and Aya slowly crept farther away to give their sister a bit more space.

Lillie kept quiet for a little longer before finally saying a word, “...H-hello.”

“Your name is Lillie, right?”

“Yes… yes it is, and you are King Evan?”

“Yes, but you can call me ‘Evan’. We're friends now, so you don't have to be afraid!”

“We… are?”

He nodded with a big smile on his face. 

She froze as her shoulders began to rise slightly. “Uhm, what do you want to do?”

“All the fun stuff you want to do!”

She dipped back into the water as it was eye-level to her now. She looked down and made a big smile underneath. “Then… I want you to swim with me!” she beamed as she sprang upwards out of the water.

Evan gave a befuddled look as he whimpered confusedly, “S-swim?”

“Do you not like swimming?”

“It's not that, but, I do gravely fear about how deep this water is…”

“Don't worry, you can just turn into a mermaid!”

He made an even more bewildered expression and couldn't even speak.

Lillie continued to look blankly with a smile on her face until she came to a realization. “Ah!” she went. She began to swim up to her siblings as they began to chat. Evan and the others began to watch from afar as they saw Kassandra with a disappointed look until Aya took out a wand with a large grin. The wand was in Lillie's hands now and she finally swam back to the boy. 

She held up the wand and said, “Here! Use this!”

“Hey, that's the wand we saw your sisters had!”

“Yes! Because it belongs to them!” She gestured the wand for Evan to take, “Use the wand to cast the spell so you can be like me!”

He stared at the wand, contemplating whether he should take it or not. He began to reach out for it until Roland extended out his own arm to stop him. 

“Excuse me, but are you sure this is safe? And can we turn him back to normal after all this?” Roland asked sharply.

“Oh? Of course it's safe, mister! I've seen it happen a lot of times and my sisters always makes sure it works, right?” she looked back at her siblings who were currently chatting with each other.

Aya looked back at the others and nodded with a big grin on her face.

Roland looked at Evan as Lofty gave a little chuckle, “We have dealt with worse, so what's the wrong in this?”

Lillie's smile started to grow as she became even more excited as Evan took the wand in her hands. He stood up and started to gesture in his usual spell casting pose. 

He paused in place until looking and down and queried, “Uhm, what spell should I cast?”

She tilted her head and shrugged. “Actually, I don't know what it's called, but you should draw in the air something like this!” She turned around and raised her hand in front of her, tracing the air in a particular manner. “Like that! You should also do it in order, and you have to think really hard about turning into a mermaid. Oh! And you should also sit down since your legs are going to become a tail.”

“But Evan already has a tail.”

“I don't know what would happen, but I doubt it would be too bad! Even so, my sisters can help you all right away!”

“Okay!” Evan chimed as he sat down and raised his arms, recalling what he should draw in the air. “Ah! Should I take off my clothes?” he asked again.

“Oh no, it's fine! Your clothes do affect the cosmetics of your tail, so you can say it merges with you! But you can take off your top garments if they aren't designed for water.” She chuckled, “Mister Tides told me that.”

Evan nodded and proceeded to take off his cape and blouse. Roland once offered to help the boy but he merely shook his head in the middle of taking off his blouse. He set aside his clothes and raised his arms again while holding the wand. He cleared his mind and began drawing on air. As he was drawing, light traced his movements from the tip of the wand until he finished. The drawing was in the air and glowed. It gave a pop and a sparkle before Evan could feel anything.

He felt things growing out of his face, small fins. Scales began to grow around his body and his tail began to twitch before wrapping around his legs. He started to feel sick, he couldn't even explain what he was feeling other than how his whole body moved horridly inside and out. He closed his eyes, feeling weak and wondering if he would pass out. He fell into the water along with the wand, unsure if he was unconscious himself. 

Tani began to run inside in panic as the others followed. Lillie dived into the water with a grin as she tried to help her new friend. Evan felt numb as he started to breathe. He was not too far deep into the water as he floated weakly. He took a long while before finally opening his eyes to see water around him and little girl with sparkling eyes.

“You're… you're a mermaid!” Lillie cried. 

“A… mermaid?” Evan asked meekly as he tried to move any of his limbs. He twitched each of his fingers before having his whole hand in control. His legs still felt absolutely numb, he didn't feel like he had a lower body. He managed to move his arms around, even with the unsettling feeling of scales moving along the water on his body. He blinked his eyes hard until he could see clearly. 

He really was underwater. Bubbles of air came from his chest and mouth while he saw dim light coming from the surface. He twisted and turned his head around to look as he was surprised at how much clearer and brighter everything looked before he turned half-merfolk. He flailed his arms to move around as Lillie swam around in excitement. 

Evan started registering all the things happening around him and finally spoke again, “This all feels really weird… but I can figure this out!”

“But you don't have to! I'm your friend and I'm gonna teach you how to be a mermaid!” She took Evan by his arms and gently turned him over. “I know it felt  _ really _ weird when you were turning into a mermaid, but it's okay! You're safe and you eventually get used to it,” she tried to assure him, noticing how he looked confused and incredibly nauseous. “Now, I'm gonna have to ask you to move your new tail a bit. Try and wiggle the tip of your tail and work your way up to your waist!”

Evan scratched his head and looked behind him, as he was currently belly-down as he floated in the water and his big, numb mermaid tail was behind him. He tried to ignore the fact his whole body structure was changed as he managed to feel the end of his new tail. It was different to how he'd use his grimalkin tail, but he continued to twitch and wiggle. He started to feel what would be considered knee-level in normal legs and chilled at how his scales started to move around. At this point, Evan felt his waist and the fins to the sides of his tail. 

Lillie saw how he moved the fins and chuckled, “You don't have to worry about those. It's all up to habit and instinct when you finally start swimming.”

He looked back at Lillie and nodded. He started to move his whole tail until it was finally in front of him. He began to wave it around until he started moving.

“Yes, yeah! Just keep doing that while you keep your arms by your side so there would be less friction when you swim around,” the little girl chimed.

Everyone from above was looking down into the dim water as Evan tried to swim. Both sisters were farther back while they happily watched their little girl making a new friend. Bracken held her leafbook and groaned at how dark it was and how she was told not to use so much light. They were all in awe as they saw the boy start to swim around with ease. 

“Moving around in water is more relaxing, right? Once you've gotten used to the water, you'll get used to your new body! … Or was it the other way around?” Lillie said as she swam along with Evan.

He gave a little laugh as the bubbles hit his face. The two continued to talk until they heard muffled voices calling them from above the water. 

“I guess the sounds outside water is still as fuzzy even as a mermaid,” Evan mumbled. They started to swim upwards to see their friends in amazement as they saw Evan in his new form.

“Hey, Evan, how's the water?” Tani joked while she crouched at the edge of the isle of land. 

“Oh, it's great! But still quite deep.” His ears perked and water sprinkled in the air.

“Say, how are you feeling? You didn't look so good when you started casting that spell,” Roland asked concerningly.

“I'm feeling great, too. Being in the water really makes you more used to the whole ‘turning into a mermaid’ situation!”

Bracken's leafbook started to beep as she continued to tap it. “How much do you think you've got it?”

Evan's smile grew and he began to tumble in the water. He waved his new tail just a bit as it was exposed for just a few seconds before it dived back into the water. The party gave out a little gasp as Lofty gave a little applause. 

He started to announce, “And I couldn't have learned this all so quickly without Lillie's help!”

Lillie's head was out of the water the whole time until she saw how the others gave her compliments. She ducked down in embarrassment at such new-found appreciation from others. 

“H-hey, did you know that when you turn from human to mermaid, the process is absolutely horrific in feeling since your whole body structure is changing by the second? But usually, special water has the effect to soothe you, both mind and body, making the whole transformation much more bearable, u-unless you've already gotten used to it…” the little merfolk sputtered in a jiffy. She fidgeted with her fingers as she started down into the water feeling more embarrassed than before. The chamber went silent at her sputter. Roland put a hand to his chin as Evan twitched his ears.

“Say, how do you know so much about humans even though you don't interact with much people at all?”

Her eyes darted to the man before looking up with glee. With a smile she said, “That's because of Mister Tides! He's a human too and he can turn part-mermaid just like Evan. He's been telling me all the fancy words I've been telling you right now!”

“Ah,” Roland let out.

Evan turned to Lillie and asked, “Can you tell us more about Mister Tides? You seem happy to mention him.”

Lillie's face became even more giddy. “I would absolutely love to!” she beamed as she swam a bit closer. “Well, his name isn't ‘Mister Tides,’ it's just that I can't pronounce his name right, then he let me call him that! He's a human just like most of you and he comes here to play with me everytime I wake up. When he turns into a mermaid, he just has to dive into the water. He says that he doesn't need to cast the spell because he's done it so many times before, his body adapted to it, or was it an accident when he was a kid..? 

“His tail is usually purple along with his scales, and he wears a monocle on his face. My sisters think it's really cute that his scales have this speckled pattern over it. Mister Tides always gets embarrassed about it and starts to pout a bit. 

“Oh oh! He's really fun and smart and he tells me all these stories. He can be a bit of a ‘nerd’ who doesn't know what he's saying, sometimes. He brings me a lot of books that I can read, he also says he waterproofs them before he gives them to me!

“And he also gave me this.” She paused to take a look at her braid. A string of silver was in her pale looking hair was braided along with it as it was all tied together with a purple pendant in the shape of a diamond at the end. She turned around as it sparkled in the light. “He gave me this before he left for his last visit…”

“Oh, Lii, don’t say that! He’ll come back, he should,” Aya came over to comfort her.

“If I could, may I ask about how you ‘sleep’? You seem to mention years and decades,” Roland asked as he moved closer to the water.

“I can explain this by myself,” Aya started, “You see, me and Kassy are actually over three centuries old! We have odd sleep cycles, and we only develop while we’re awake. Lillie was born two centuries ago, that’s why she’s still so small, and her sleep cycle is different from ours. Why do we sleep as long as decades? It’s a magic accident before we were even born.” She paused for a while before continuing. “That’s what we’ve been told, so far…” she said softly as she scratched the back of her head.

“That… sounds so sad…” Evan blurted in pity.

“Oh, don't be! That's just who we are,” Aya tried to assure him. “Hey, I know,” she started, “all three of us can play together!”

Lii's eyes lit up as she bobbed in the water. “Can Kassandra play too?” she cried excitedly.

Aya turned her head to look at the rock and sighed. “Looks like she might have gone to the depths again.”

“Again?” she groaned.

Evan came closer to her and spoke, “Sometimes, people can get really busy and you just can't talk to them, but I promise you'll have just as much fun without your sister!”

The little merfolk’s eyes lit up again. “You're right!”

“You know what I'm thinking!”

“Yeah!” Lillie then gestured to Evan to pay attention to Aya.

The merfolk was meters back and came rushing through the water. Aya flew into the surface and did another one of her graceful stunts as she had thrown herself over the isle. She dived elegantly into the other side and heard muffled cheers.

“Are we going to do that?” Evan asked.

Again, with her sparkling eyes, Lillie gave a sharp nod accompanied with a wide grin. “You… do what she did! It's like a running start, for land-walkers, but in water!”

Evan tilted his head in confusion while Aya continued to jump over the isle into the other side of the cave, entertaining everyone else. 

“This part's really just practice! It really is,” Aya comforted him before she flew into the air again. 

“I see…”

“But it's really fun once you get the hang of it!” She began to drift back and swam upwards, out of the water. Lillie managed to do a twirl at the crown of her arch and dived quietly into the water.

Evan giggled in excitement and decided to try it out himself. ‘ _ Okay. Back up, like a running start… _ ’ he mused while he readied his tail. The fur on his skin shot up as he swan upwards, through the water. He yelled to keep him from suffocating as he was in the air. He heard gasps from below, seconds before he hit the water. 

Evan's head popped out of the other side of the cave and breathed in exhilaration. 

Lillie cheered from underwater, “You did it, you did it!”

“Nice one, Evan!” Tani cheered along. 

Aya giggled as she appeared from under the water. She came closer to the isle of land and rested one of her elbows. “Haha, I don't think I've caught any of your names yet, have I?”

“Making Friends 101 and we didn't even start with name sharing,” Bracken joked. 

“Yeah, yeah! I'll start. I'm Tani,” she said gleefully as she pointed her thumb at herself.

Lofty hopped into view, “And I'm Lofty! Evermore's great and grand kingmaker-- but you can call me Lofty.”

“The name's Batu, lassie.”

“Bracken Meadows!”

“I'm Roland Crane.”

“Crane… crane…” Lillie began to mutter as her head bobbed in the water. “Mister who… crane, mister… Oh--” She gave a smile in triumph as she chimed, “Mister Bird!”

Bracken threw a hand to her face as Tani and Aya burst out laughing in unison. The others followed as they sounded like snickers compared to the whooping that resonated the damp chamber. 

Roland gave a weak, monotone chuckle. “So, ‘Mister  _ Bird _ '?”

Lillie's hair stood on ends. “W-well… Cranes are those big, pretty birds-- a-and I should be calling you ‘Mister’…” she stuttered, looking down in worry and embarrassment.

“YEAH, Mister  _ BIRD _ . That's who you are, ahahaha!” Tani yelled as she fell to the ground, hands around her chest.

Aya stopped to breathe as she gripped the rocky edge of land, as if for dear life. “You can be less rude by calling him ‘Mister Crane,’ like his actual name, hahaha…”

“Well, uhm-- You see, it's because…” she started to stutter again, subtly sinking deeper into the water.

Roland pondered in the midst of distracting laughter and blurted, “I do prefer you avoid calling me ‘Mister Crane’ more than anything, actually.”

Evan waited for the laughter to die down into giggles before he fetched Lillie, who looked like as if she was melting from anxiety while undterwater. “Hey, Lillie, it's okay. Why don't we swim off the embarrassment? You have good reasons why you use formalities.  And, maybe a bit of jokes. ”

Lillie wobbled a nod and held his hand. They heard Aya call them, “Hey, Lii, Evan!” The two surfaced to the call. 

“What is it?” Evan asked as he perked his ears.

Aya put her hands to head and ruffled her hair. “Evan, I mean. Come over here!  I have something to tell you.”

Evan began to swim over over as Lillie began to softly pout, “But what will I do?”

“Oh oho, you'll find something.” 

She waved her hand again as Evan turned back to Lillie. “I'm sorry, but I'm sure we won't make you wait too long!” he patted the little girl on the shoulder. 

She finally let go of the tension in her lips and dropped her arms. “Yeah…”

Evan gave a grin and made his way to Aya as Lillie sank underwater. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /breathes/
> 
> mermaids! I guess. And Evan, as one, huh.  
> also fun fact I’m gonna try and use “mermaid” and “merfolk” differently with great difficulty but that’s life, man.  
> I should have art somewhere so watch out I guess.


End file.
